The mining company hiring temporary Chinese workers in B.C. is appealing a Federal Court decision made last week that gave two unions the green light to proceed with their fight against importing the miners.

In a statement, HD Mining said it’s “very concerned and disappointed” at a statement made by Minister Diane Finley in Ottawa that questioned the permit application process for hiring the workers earlier this month.

They’ve made a request for her to clarify — despite a federal lawyer dismissing in court Finley’s statement was acknowledging any flaws.

The 201 workers were hired to bulk sample the underground mine, supposedly because there is a lack of miners with “long wall mining” knowledge.

The unions said this isn’t the case, while the provincial government acknowledges that type of training doesn’t exist in B.C.

HD Mining said it has signed a preliminary agreement with Northern Lights College to develop a long wall-mining curriculum.